Perfect but not Really
by Comicbookfan
Summary: Anzu Mazaki never thought anything could be wrong with Ryuuji Otogi. Which is why it comes as such a shock when, during a group project, she discovers him with his fingers down his throat.


Perfect (Not Really)

Summary: Anzu Mazaki never thought anything could be wrong with Ryuuji Otogi. Whick is why it comes as such a shock when, during a group project, she discovers him with his fingers down his throat.

Warnings: T for purging, mentions of abuse.

AN/ Don't know where this came from. I hope I kept them in character. There is no Romance here.

***

Ryuuji Otogi never ate too much, Anzu knew. He tried to hide it, but she knew he was on a diet which he followed religiously.

But that was okay with her, because, well, it was _Ryuuji_. It was obvious there would be some weird things he did to stay in shape.

She just didn't know how strange.

***

"Alright then, Kaiba-kun can work alone, Jounouchi-kun, you'll be with Motou-kun. Honda-kun, let's pair you with Bakura-kun, and Anzu-chan and Otogi-kun can work together…" The teacher droned on.

It could have been worse, since Ryuuji, as far as Anzu knew, kept his grades decent.

"Hey. Whose house should we work at?" Anzu said monotonously to the boy.

The raven-haired beauty (it irked Anzu that he was more beautiful than her and there was nothing she could do about it) fidgeted.

"Uh…I think my house would work best. You can stay for dinner if you want, too."

Anzu was about to decline, before she saw the ray of hope in his eyes. And it hit her. Being such a thin part of the group, he had to be lonely.

_Lonely._ Him. It seemed so right and yet so ridiculous.

She couldn't help smiling warmly and tucking a strand of short almond hair behind her ear.

"Sure."

He smiled and replied: "Great. Today after school. Meet me. _Don't_ be late." He he whirled off into the throngs of student, leaving Anzu there to inwardly steam at his cockiness.

He seemed to know all the right buttons to push. He knew she had been stood up enough times to be a real bitch about punctuality.

Those were the things she hated about him, the detestable things about him, especially his frickin' annoying ridiculous over-confidence that infuriated her to the ends of the Earth.

When she had come to his house she had pretended to ignore the mini-models of torture devices along with the ample collection of knives, and even the red stains in the white carpet and hardwood floors that she was quite sure weren't wine. Ryuuji had seen her looking at the knives anyway.

'My father's. He's dead now.' Was the only thing that he had said, dismissively, without a care in the world.

She supposed everything else was his fathers' too.

They had worked on the project all night with as little arguing as they could have.

…Which really was not 'little' at all.

Early in the night rain had started to drip onto the roof.

Then lighting.

Then thunder, making Ryuuji jittery and pale and Anzu worried.

And later the storm was raging so that Anzu could not get home, not even with an umbrella, without getting a soak and a possible traumatic brain injury.

"Fine, you can stay here after dinner. Call your parents or whatever before the lights go."

"Fine, then." Anzu had called her mother and father and told them she was waiting out the storm over the night with a friend. They had agreed.

Five minutes later the power had gone out. Anzu grated her teeth. She hated that. The ink-haired boy had carefully taken out several candles, trying to disguise his trembling that she knew was from fear, though he stuck out his chest and kept a brave front, as always.

Maybe he wasn't as strong or as manly as he wanted others to think.

Maybe he wasn't feeling well…

They had eaten dry ramen, and that was all. Ryuuji had eaten every single bite.

Then he gave her a nightgown-that was very pretty to say the least, all white silk and lace-that he claimed had belonged to his mother.

While she changed in another bathroom he went to change in his own, and afterwards Anzu headed toward it, thinking to ask him about a toothbrush. But when she approached the place she frowned, because Ryuuji was retching badly. And every time he stopped he seemed to magically start again.

Nervously, she opened the door.

And then she cursed herself for being so unprepared, because the worst she had prepared herself for was the flu.

Instead she found him with his fingers down his throat.

His emerald green eyes widened as he took his fingers out of his mouth and flushed the toilet.

"Shit."

'_Shit'_ was right.

And all Anzu could do was act embarrassingly girlish and say "Oh _Otogi._ Oh _Ryuuji._"

"Uh…Anzu…I can explain…" Suddenly he wasn't so confident anymore, and looked guilty.

As though he'd been caught doing something awful.

Oh wait, he had.

"I was…y'know…not feeling that well…and my stomach was killing me…so…uh…"He trailed off there.

Anzu had begun to look like the fiery demoness of holy hell.

"How could you? How could you do this to yourself? You're a stick! A stick! And you have the idiocy to contract an eating disorder?! How long has this been going on?"

"…A while after I met you guys…"

"That much?! Damn it, Ryuuji!" Then Anzu stopped.

She was being too harsh. She wasn't to be giving anyone a lecture here. And, just to make her feel worse, the slightly younger boy's eyes had started to water. He wiped the tears away furiously. Sighing softly, she went across him in the floaty nightgown and wondered how friendship was going to solve this one. But it would.

She put an arm over his thin shoulders, and noticed he was still shaking, in the artificial light of the candles, lightning, and moonlight, and flashlights out and inside.

"You need help. We'll get you help."

"We?"

"Me and the others."

"Don't tell them. Please!" He begged.

"I have to. It's obvious you can't really take care of yourself here, with no parents around."

"But…I don't need help."

"Don't say that. Don't. You need it a lot. I promise you won't get sent to an institution. You need it. And you'll get it."

"But I don't _want_ it."

"And I don't care. I'm sure not gonna sit by and watch you waste into nothing."

"You're exaggerating." He said snappishly, some of his attitude returning.

"I've seen stuff like this before."

"I hate this. Why did I have to have a girly sickness?"

"Don't you dare say that. Anybody can get this. Only the strong people stop it."

"But I really don't want help. I don't need it. I'm Ryuuji Otogi. And I'm perfect. So there."

Anzu almost laughed at how childish he sounded. But she didn't, because she knew it was serious.

She sighed.

"I don't want it."

She noticed something-

-he wasn't saying he didn't need it.


End file.
